February 7, 2012

Earthquake update!

The 2 story church building at Kabankalan has big crack and the roof is about to fall in from the quake and aftershocks. I was texted last night and will be going there soon. They said it was unsafe to worship there this Sunday. Other churches in that area are being checked on today. We have had several strong aftershocks!

Jacob Escoto, (young man with broken back) He was transferred to the Bacolod hospital last night and is in the emergency room still.  I went to see him last week and he is continuing to go down and down!  He has never stabilized from the time his back was broken and we are very concerned for him and his family again.  The government provincial hospital is such a sad place with limited care.  Please keep him and his discouraged parents in your prayers! 

We are getting lots and lots of rain today.  Pray that it will not result in landslides because of the aftershocks!  It will not effect us personally but those in the mountain areas!

Praise God for your prayers, we are all okay!

In His service,
Paul Wilson

February 9 Facebook Post by Paul:

Good earthquake news! Today I drove to Kabankalan to check on the earthquake damage that had been texted to me. The original church building was not damaged at all, but only a porch that was added later to front of the building. It can easily be repaired! They will be using the church this Sunday for worship! PTL

11-11-20011

Hello everyone!

Paul and I are doing well and keeping busy here in the Philippines.  Our shipment arrived on Oct. 18th from Cebu and that was an exciting day for us.   It was so great to see the blue trailer coming down the narrow roads and watching the drivers determine how to get it backed up to the house!  We had 12 men (some were students from a nearby college) helping unload and place the boxes in certain areas so sorting would be easier at a later time. We had an assembly line actually set up where we opened each box and pulled out the clothing.  Then verbally told each student if the contents went upstairs or downstairs.  It was great timing when our container arrived because we had a semester break for 2 weeks and I could spend many hours going through the boxes. We have already dispersed lots of clothing, books, quilts, and teaching supplies to 2 orphanages. We visited a preschool today and took 4 boxes of books and teaching materials for the 29 students.  I am back in school now and enjoy being with my students during the morning and sorting through boxes in the afternoon. THANK YOU for your prayers for our time in customs and a smooth transition from the port to our home.  We are never sure what will happen with the customs process and we greatly appreciated your prayers and remembering us during that stressful time.

We are continuing to have construction work going on 6 days a week at our house/bodega. The workers are finishing up the water tank construction and making the foundation for the kitchen counters. We are trying to get 2 guest bedrooms completed for John and Kathy Miller and Keith Limke to stay in while they visit us for 3 weeks.  The Millers and Keith are going to help us “create” a kitchen in our house.  They are from Christ’s Church of Yukon.  We are very excited to have “Oklahoma” company and the possibility of having a kitchen again!  We are planning to arrive at a stopping place very soon. It has taken so many months to get to the point we are at now. Things are just so SLOW here in the Philippines compared to the building process of the US.  There will be much to do in the future but we are trying to get it functional and useable for the present time.

We had a one day marriage seminar with Dr. Don Ott recently in our new classroom. Dr. Ott is from Russellville, Arkansas, and had a short visit with us between his trip to Bohol, Philippines, and Sydney, Australia. It was very enlightening and encouraging to the 14 couples who attended.  We provided several meals and enjoyed watching the movie, Fireproof, at the end of the session.  He had an early morning meeting for the local Pastors the next day and then departed for Manila on route to Australia.  It was great having him here.  The information made a great impact on many couples.

I am enjoying my Philippine drivers license and taking the Pajero to school.  We were given an older vehicle (automatic!) from a missionary returning to the states in June of 2010.  I never really had a need (or desire) to drive here before, BUT because of where we live now, it is much more difficult to obtain transportation to school.  Now I keep wondering why I didn’t do this 5 years ago!  It’s always “eye opening” to see how Filipino’s drive, but you learn to use the horn and go “with the flow”….ha ha    I think Paul enjoys not having to take me everywhere too………….

Thank you for your continued prayers for us and the ministry of Vision For Missions.  We appreciate hearing from you.  News from YOU, make our days extra special!

In His service -
Mary Wilson
 

Paul & Mary Wilson
Vision For Missions, Inc.

You may email Paul and Mary at paul@vfm-philippines.com